My Opinions and Reviews of Lean on Me Movie

 DATE OF RELEASE: 3rd March, 1989

GENRE: Teen/Drama

RUNNING TIME: 1 hr 48 min

CAST: Morgan Freeman, Beverly Todd, Karen Malina White, Jeramine Hopkins

DIRECTOR: John G. Avildsen

SYNOPSIS: Joe Clark, an overbearing person, is reinstated as the principal of a run-down school swamped with drug abuse and violence, which he is adamant to change.

REVIEW:

"You are not inferior. Your grades may be. Your school may have been. But you can turn all that around and make liars out of those bastards in exactly one hour, when you take that test and pass it and win."

    Lean on Me is a biographical Drama based on Joe Louis Clark, who served as the principal of Eastside High School in Paterson, New Jersey. His students had a great demeanor for him although his ways and practices seemed bittersweet to his fellow subordinates. In the opening credits, we see Joe having a fun quiz session with his students, interrupted by a fellow staff member, who informs him about the secret meeting going on between the other staff to transfer him to another school for their own profit. Enraged, Joe quits. 

    We see a transition between the sets, a clean hallway of Eastside high, when Joe was the principle, to a dirty hallway, with lots of blood, students shoving each other up to the extent where teachers have no say in anything, drug deals, a teacher being abused and hospitalized and so on. It shows us the lack of discipline among the students, stating that they have “Rotten to the Core”. We are also informed that 1-2% have only passed the basic skills test with a required pass percentage of 75%.

    After a period of time, the Town Mayor faces an ultimatum, either rehire Joe as the principal of Eastside High, or give up the school to the government. The Mayor refuses the latter and assigns Joe as the new principal.

    Joe immediately dismissed about 300 students, who are not willing to take accountability for their actions. We see one student, Tom, begging Joe to retake him. In this particular scene, we feel strong emotions exchanged, with Joe making sure that Tom never takes on the path of selling drugs ever. Joe changed the dress codes, appointed security to prevent expelled students from entering the school, forced students to recite the Alma Mater everyday, fired and demoted staff who questioned him while taking care of the needs of each and every student. 

    We also see Joe acting as a father figure to Kaneesha, who knew him from Middle School. Eventually the situation turns around. With students starting to admire Joe more, he continuously incites motivation in them. The students take their most awaited test.

   Joe is sent to jail for violating fire safety codes by installing security. Every student of the Eastside High is seen chanting “Free Mr. Clark” outside the prison. When Joe was asked to dismiss the crowd, we see the Vice Principal, Joan, handing the results to him. From his excitement, we conclude that the school is not going to be seized by the government and Joe would remain principal till his retirement.

   

MY OPINIONS ABOUT THE FILM:

1) ACCENT: Accents played a major role for me as a viewer. Morgan Freeman, known for his deep and resonant voice, had a mix of standard and Texan English accents, and was the only one speaking it. This emphasized that he was the one in Authority and everyone had to obey him. We often see him speak fast, which resonates with the fact that he had very little time to prove to the Mayor that he could turn the school around. 

2)CONTRAST IN HIS BEHAVIOR: In one particular scene, we see a lot of students and teachers waiting in the office to talk to him. He calmly asks the students to meet him in the afternoon, but yells at the teachers to wait for some time as he has a lot on his hands. This tells us that, no matter how cold he was, he always had compassion for his students.

 

3)SUBTLE TRANSITIONS: From ‘Crazy Joe’ to ‘Free Mr. Clark’ we see a lot of subtle transitions in the tone, mood, and music in certain scenes. In the first Auditorium scene, we see that after the dismissal of ‘Rotten Students’ the scene had a shift in the lighting from dim and rusty to bright and cut. This subtly reveals that the school will undergo a good change. 

I would rate this movie a solid 4.2/10, not considering the scene continuities since it was released 35 years ago. However, the cinematic dramatizations made it look a little bit exaggerated even though the movie is based on real life events, which was apt 35 years ago, not today. Viewers are advised to view the film as a real-life drama rather than a documentary. The movie showed Morgan Freeman's standout performance, its inspirational story, and its exploration of important social and educational themes. It is a good few hours worth your time. I would recommend ‘budding’ students to watch this movie with their parents. 

NAME: Anusnekhaa LN

REGISTER NUMBER: 2021504503

DEPARTMENT: Electronics and Communication Engineering